Legend of Zelda--Four Swords Forever!
by The Aurum Writers
Summary: Dragons. They're dragons. Thanks, old hag. Blue, Green, Red, and Vio get turned into dragons, and set out on a quest to return themselves back into their normal forms. With lots of red herrings and obstacles to overcome, will they succeed? They sure hope so. If they don't, Blue forever be ranting on and on about how stupid witches are, and none of them want that. Except for Blue.
1. We Get Turned into Dragons (Yay)

**Dargon: Hey, guys, Dargon here!**

**This is a little fanfic I made for The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. **

**Based off of the manga on Four Swords, the four Links call each other**

**Red, Blue, Green, and Vio.**

**Hope you enjoy~!**

**D Ice Cream**

**Nike: And, just because I need credit, I edited this, fixed grammatical issues, made the plot more interesting so that the story goes longer, all that good stuff. Review, please! Cookie! (::)**

**Dargon: Because I can't spell certain words even if it was for my life. :D**

**Nike: Not something to smile happily about…**

**Disclaimer: We do not own The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords the game or the manga. Credit to Nintendo and Akira Himekawa!**

* * *

Green's POV

I scrambled to my feet as the old hag shot a pulsing, lightning-blue ball that crackled with electricity at me. I leapt sideways as the ball missed me by near inches and exploded on the wall behind me, creating a large, gaping hole riddled with cracks. Quickly, I glanced around to see how the others were doing. Vio and Blue were dodging large chunks of rock that fell from the ceiling as the whole chamber rumbled and split apart. Red was trying, unsuccessfully, to use the Fire Rod on the witch as the rod gave off feeble sparks and sputtered. I turned my attention back to the witch as she threw yet another volley of balls at me.

"We can't keep dodging forever," I yelled to Vio as I ducked under one of the balls, which shot past me.

"Well, there's nothing that can kill her but fire. And Red can't get the Fire Rod to work," Blue cut in.

Suddenly, the witch stopped. The balls floating suspended in her hand fizzled and popped into nonexistence. The chamber shook as the place began to fall apart. The witch, among the falling debris, began to grow larger and larger until her head brushed the top of the chamber. Her gigantic figure loomed above us menacingly.

"Oh my—" Blue began to say, as we realized what she had turned into. She had played her final and most powerful card.

The dragon, as fast as a striking snake, lunged towards us. The last thing I saw before the world winked out of existence was the gaping maw of the dragon's mouth stretched wide open and ready to swallow us whole.

"Green…"

It came as a whisper in the dark, among the white-hot agonizing pain that arced through me the same way the electricity zipped through the old hag's magic balls. I struggled to open my eyes as the darkness pressed down on me, stitching my eyelids shut. Blood pounded in my ears.

_Thump, thump._

"Green."

_THUMP, THUMP._

"GREEN!"

I yelped and my eyes shot open. At first I thought I was seeing a whirl of blue leaning over me. Then, abruptly the world tuned into focus and I was face to face with a blue dragon.

"AGGGHHHHHH!" I spun away from the beast, trying to get as far away as possible from the thing. Hard claws clamped down on my shoulders, wheeling me back around to face the monster.

"It's me, idiot!" The dragon hissed. "Blue!"

I stopped struggling and stared into the dark blue dragon's eyes. "W-W-What-H-How?!"

"Look at yourself."

I looked down at my hands. Or… What I thought had been my hands.

"Oh. My. Gosh." My voice came out as a small squeak. My hands were not hands, but taloned claws that looked menacingly sharp. Sharp enough to pierce through anything.

I squirmed to get out of Blue's grasp and he released me. I twisted around to look at myself, turning in full circles. A tail. Wings. Four legs…

I was a dragon.

I repulsively threw up.

"Ugh. Do that somewhere else, please?"

"How...?" I asked, still gagging. I waved my other arm, emphasizing my dragon body.

"The old witch turned us into dragons. I don't know why, or how, but she'd disappeared when I came to," Blue explained.

"The others?"

As if on cue, Vio and Red groaned at the same time. I looked past Blue to see a bright, violet colored dragon and a fiery red dragon stumble to their feet. Red almost stood up on his hind legs, but as if on instinct he lowered himself onto four legs. He blinked.

"Heyisitjustmeorareyouguysdragons?" He mumbled sleepily, his words slurring together. "OrwasitjustthatsugarIate? AmIdelirious?"

"No, go back to sleep, Red," Blue said, sarcastically. Red began to nod off, but Blue stopped him. "Okay, not literally."

Vio sighed. "Dragons. Of all of the creature she picked, it had to be dragons."

"What?" Red asked, suddenly not tired. "This is awesome! I mean, dragons are supposedly really like graceful and flexible apparently, and - " Red immediately tripped over himself and face-planted flat on the floor. "Uh, never mind."

"We have to go after that witch," I said. "The thing is, how do we know where she went?"

"I dunno, I was out cold the whole time," Red murmured helpfully.

"Oh, like THE REST OF US WERE," Blue said.

"Hold on. Dragons have keen senses, don't they?" Vio asked. He raised his head.

"What's that smell?" Red asked automatically. We all paused, staying quiet and very still. Suddenly, I could smell it too - and I could've sworn it was the smell of the old hag's.

"I knew it," Vio muttered. Then he said, "That's our lead."

"So… Do we follow it?" Red asked.

"I've NEVER heard such an incompetent question like that before," Blue said. "Let's go."

Vio nudged a charred, blackened piece of meat towards me. He had accidentally overdid the fire on a poor unsuspecting chicken while hunting, and this had been the result.

I shook my head. "I'm not hungry," I tried to protest, as my stomach involuntarily growled.

"C'mon, this is what predators eat on a daily basis, really," Vio said.

"Yeah, but isn't overcooked?"

"Hm. Maybe." He nudged the meat closer to me.

"I can't," I said, stepping away from it. "I don't think I can eat a living thing, seriously."  
"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'll just like, uh, find a few berries or something."

We hadn't traveled far from the chamber; when we had finally shoved our way out it had been close to night, and we had decided to camp out on a bank near a small stream.

Red was fishing - or trying to fish - from the stream. Every time he caught a fish it would slip out of his talons. He finally gave up, his neck stiff from him angling it in an uncomfortable arch for so long. "Berries?" he asked.

I nodded. "Let's go find some." We went down the bank for a couple of paces, and found a cluster of berry bushes filled with ripe, red berries. Red plucked one off and studied it.

"Do you think it's poisonous?"

"Only one safe way to find out. Let's go ask Vio," I answered.

"What?" Vio had appeared behind me. Red held a berry out to him, and he took it, rotating it between his talons, inspecting each and every one of its features.

"It's poisonous, but because dragons have a better stomach system and more resilience to toxic food compared to humans, I'm guessing we're fine," he finally said.

"'Guessing'?" Red didn't look reassured.

"I'm absolutely positive that we'll be safe after eating these," Vio corrected himself. He popped the berry into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "Sweet. And tangy," He murmured to himself.

"BLUE!" Red called. "C'mon down here! We found some berries!"

Blue joined us a split second later, and soon the berry bushes' branches were bare and completely derided of its berries. The berry juice had been sticky, so we trooped back to the stream to wash up. I stuck my head and talons in the cool water a few times, then turned in a circle and lay down to sleep. I looked up and saw Red watching me.

"Huh. That's weird, seeing you do it," he said. He tried the turning-and-lying-down thing himself. Even though I knew he was (or used to be) a human, I couldn't help thinking of him as an animal. I directed my gaze up to the stars, where they had appeared, one by one, in the dark sky. I watched them twinkle for a few minutes, then without my knowing, I fell asleep.

Blue's POV

I stretched, letting my stiff limbs umcramp. I didn't remember going to sleep with my body tucked in like a ball, but apparently the whole night I'd been sleeping like that. Without warning, my wings suddenly shot out and smacked Red square in the snout. He yelped, jolting to his feet and looking wildly about for his attacker. When he didn't see anything dangerous, he relaxed and went back to sleep, not having seen me. "Idiot," I muttered.

"Oh, hi, Blue," he murmured in his sleep.

"Wake up." I nudged him with my taloned foot.

"Unnnnnnf." He opened one eye groggily. "Yes?"

"Wake up."

"I am awake," he murmured. He started to snore.

I stomped to a bush and tore a gigantic leaf off of it. Pushing down on the center of the leaf to create a bowl-like depression, I went to the stream and filled the leaf with water. Then I lugged it over to Red. He barely had time to blink before I poured the water over his head. He jerked up.

"COLD!" He yelped. He shook himself the way a dog does to get the water off himself, and I jumped back to avoid the ice-cold droplets.

"Tone it down, will ya?" Green asked crossly as he yawned.

I held back a snigger. "How can we when Red's got issues with water?"

"I do not," Red said, trying not to grin.

"We should get an early start," Vio said. "Who knows how much farther she'll get." He cocked his head to the side. "Actually, I do know. She's apparently moved around 2,298 kilometers farther than she was before."

"Okay, let's get," I said. Then I sighed. "I actually don't feel like walking. Is there an easier way?"

"Sure," Vio grinned. "Let me introduce you to flying."

It took awhile - no, scratch that. It took a LONG while before we finally caught on, but when we did, it was rewarding. We soared over a stretch of forest, following the scent trail of the witch. The witch's smell was so intoxicating and suffocating that we could follow her scent easily and pretty much without a problem.

"Hey, Red," I said. He glanced at me. "Watch this." I waited until I could see a flock of birds ahead of us, then sped up to catch up with them. I zeroed in on the bird at the center of the flock and snapped down on it, causing pandemonium among the other birds, who broke away from their formation in panic. I crunched down on the bird, enjoying the snack.

"Whoa!" he yelled. "Cool!"

"Make a turn to the right," Vio called out to us. "There's a human town straight ahead, and I don't think they'd take kindly to dragons."

Screams and cries of panic suddenly floated up to us.

Vio cursed under his breath. "Too late."

"DIVE!" Green yelled. We all tucked our wings in and shot for ground, making a clear landing in a clearing in a forest. I made a wobbly landing, almost having lost my balance in the air as I heard a sudden snap sound to my left in the brush of the forest, indicating that the village's hunters were after us. We landed with a soft thump amidst the grass. Vio swiveled his head around, then quickly motioned for us to follow him, leading us silently to a small, hidden cave camouflaged by the low-hanging underbrush. We huddled in there, with barely enough space to spare because of our sizes. Outside we could hear the hunters yelling at each other to spread out and search. I almost jumped when two of the hunters began to talk to each other right outside of our enclosure.

"What is it this time?" A hoarse-sounding gruff voice croaked.

"Dragons. The idiots," Another voice growled. "After the attack from the Chimeras, they just had to come swinging by?"

"It's fine. We'll take them out. We've been prepared for another attack like this for days."  
"What do they want from us? We haven't bothered them in any way."

"They might just be looking for flesh to eat, or maybe the treasures the villagers have. Hold on," The gruff man's voice softened to a whisper. "Do you smell that?"

"What?"

"I believe," The man said, "We have found our targets." The man suddenly appeared at the mouth of the cave, glaring straight at us.

Red's POV

I almost yelped when the man appeared out of nowhere, startling me. Instead I stayed perfectly still, not wanting to give the hunter the satisfaction of seeing me flinch. But... the man wasn't making any move towards us. His gaze swept the area of the cave, then he shrugged and ducked back outside and out of sight. _What the... ?_

"What was that for? Are they in there?"

"No. I thought I sensed them in there, but they weren't."  
The first person who had spoken sneered. "Your instincts are getting old, grandpa."  
"Not as dull as yours," The gruff man replied, calmly.

"Whatever," the first person sneered again. "Let's search somewhere else." The sound of their receding footsteps grew dimmer and dimmer until they were completely out of earshot.

When Vio deemed the coast clear, I asked, "What was THAT?"

"I forgot to mention," Vio said, "That dragons turn invisible when staying in one position for long enough."

Blue snorted, while I smacked myself in the snout. "Is it safe to go out?"

"I think so. I'll check." Vio ducked outside. Soon after, he called, "Come on out. It's probably safer if we go through the forest a bit before flying again, just in case so the village doesn't spot us again."

We tromped outside. "Which way?" Green asked.

Vio cocked his head to the side. "That way is the village…" - he motioned to his right - "...and the smell is…" He paused, looking confused.

"What?"

"Is it just me, or does the trail split?"

We immediately stiffened up, focusing our senses. Vio was right; the trail split into two paths, each leading in a different direction.

Blue cursed. "Stupid old hag," he growled in frustration.

"How do we know which one to follow?" I asked.

"Should… we split up?" Green suggested, tentatively.

Vio looked thoughtful. "And each group follow each trail? That's not a bad idea, but what if there's a death trap on the other end for one of the groups? And what if it circles endlessly, mixing up your sense of direction and rendering you lost? How would you find your way back?"

"Good point." Green said. Then he added, as an afterthought, "As always."  
"So, should we just pick a trail and go?" Blue asked. "Eenie meenie miney moe, catch a dragon by its toe, if it hollers let it go, eenie meenie miney moe." He ended up with his claw pointing to the trail leading in the exact direction opposite the way to the village, heading north.

"Okay, so let's go this way, I guess," I said, doubtfully. We began the journey north to (maybe) confront the witch, if she was even there.

Vio's POV

It took an uneventful couple of days of traveling before we met our first obstacle; a vast, midnight-blue ocean that spread out in all directions as far as we could all see. As we neared the beach running along the front side of the ocean, night fell and deepened the ocean's color to black.

"Would it be safer to fly or swim?" Red asked, coming up next to me as I studied the ocean ahead of us.

"Fly," I answered. "Swimming would cause more energy to be wasted than flying."

Blue launched into the air first, and we followed suit, streaking close over the dark waves. We continued out over the water for at least a few meters before a loud, splashing noise sounded behind us. I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see an ominous, gigantic figure the shape of a lump erupt out of the water, looming over us, silhouetted against the dark sky not far away, silent but menacingly terrifying.

"Um, don't look behind you now, but there's a monster chasing us," I said. Too late. The others had twisted back to see the monster already. We pushed faster, trying to fly as fast as we could away from the monster, but the huge beast was quickly gaining on us, sloshing its way through the water.

"What the heck is that THING?!" Blue yelled as we tried to make our getaway. The beast suddenly lunged forward and was within tail's reach when it sank down under the water, as quickly as it appeared.

"Wait… it just… W-What?" Red stopped, his eyes wide, as he stared down at the area of water the monster had occupied five seconds ago.

"Careful, it may be toying with us," Green warned. We swiveled our heads around, searching for any kind of disturbance. But we had forgotten to look downwards; I hadn't even comprehended the fact that a loud splash had sounded directly underneath me. Green yelled out, and a split second later, something grabbed my tail and yanked me downward, the ice-cold freezing water closing over my head. I twisted, struggling, trying to free myself of the black, enormous hand that had a tight grip on my tail as it dragged me down, down, down until I could see the ocean floor coming up fast. I forced myself to hold as much air in as possible and looked up to see that the hand belonged to the same gigantic monster that had been chasing us.

The beast was huge, and was the dark color of charcoal black. It was shaped like a lump, and only a mouth was visible on the beast, one that gaped wide open and contained sharp, rotating teeth. It had two arms, one of which was holding me. I slashed at the monster's hand with my talons. A chunk of the monster's gooey skin ripped off and dissipated into flecks of black dust in the water. _The entire beast was made up of black matter. _With the idea to rip off the monster's hand from its body in mind, I clawed viciously at the monster, tearing away almost the whole hand holding me when the monster slammed me against the ocean floor. The world blacked out for a split second as I fought against what was left of the beast's hand pinned me down to the floor, squeezing the air out of me. _Don't pass out now. _I grabbed the hand in between my claws and yanked on it, tearing it away from the beast's body. Now free, I kicked desperately up to the surface as my air supply dwindled quickly.

Green's POV

We watched with bated breath at the spot where Vio had disappeared with the monster. We were too afraid to ask the question that was on everyone's mind: _Was Vio dead?_ With every passing minute it seemed there was no way Vio would've survived. We were about to give up hope when...

The surface of the water suddenly bubbled, and broke as Vio surfaced, spluttering and choking for air. The monster exploded out of the water in front of him, wailing in agony as dark, red blood spurted out of the area in which one of his arms used to be, staining the ocean water. Vio grappled with the monster, attacking and tearing off large chunks of the monster while dodging the beast's attempts to grab him. Suddenly, the monster slammed his fist down onto the water, creating a huge wave that sucked up Vio. He and the monster disappeared again under the waves.

"I'm helping him," Blue announced, about to dive into the water to help Vio. Just then, a patch of thick, dark red blood and what seemed to be intestines bubbled up, floating up from the depths of the sea. I could hear Red being violently sick behind me, but I kept my attention on the water. Soon after the blood and insides had surfaced, so did a black pool of goo moments later.

"That's the monster," I said. We looked at each other. "But Vio…?"

Vio suddenly resurfaced in the water right in the middle of the pool of blood and monster goo, coating himself with it, causing Red to throw up even more passionately. Vio flailed around in the water for a bit, until he reached a lone glacier floating in the ocean. He looked at it gratefully and scrambled onto it.

"Well, that was a slight setback," he called. "A little help, here…?"

We shot to him, landing on the glacier with him and nearly flipping the glacier over with our sudden, unexpected weight.

"Are you okay?!" Red shrieked.

"Are you?" Blue asked Red."You seemed a bit upset with your stomach."

Red nodded and patted his stomach comfortingly.  
"I'm fine! Actually, I'm great! I've never - have you seen what these claws can do?!" Vio said, stabbing his claws into the ice and coming back up with a huge chunk of ice. "I have to say, I've missed fighting. This way of fighting is way better than using our swords."

"Shoot," Blue muttered. "I missed it."

"What was that thing?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Vio admitted. "Nothing I've ever heard of before, really. I think it may have been a demon sent by the witch to stall us while trying to find her."

"Wow, something that _Vio_ doesn't know about?" Blue said sarcastically, clapping a talon over his mouth in mock surprise.

Vio sighed and rolled his eyes. "My knowledge only goes so far. It's limited, y'know. No one holds all the answers to the universe."

Blue put a talon up. "If you're gonna start a lecture, save it for later. We've got to catch up to that hag."

* * *

**Nike: And so concludes chapter one. We won't post the next chapter until we get at least, I dunno...two reviews! :D That's not **_**too**_ **much to ask for, is it?**

**Dargon: Jeez, Nike, much is expected of the world. **


	2. We are Tricked, and Treated for

**Disclaimer: Link went out to kill some monsters, and forgot to leave the right to own him with us.**

**Dargon: Not so much of a disclaimer.**

**Link: I HAVE NO RIGHTS**

* * *

Red's POV

I yelped and bolted upright. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, tingeing the sky an orangish-pinkish color.

Green glanced over to me. "Nightmare?"

I felt suddenly ashamed of myself for being scared over a simple nightmare. "Uh, no," I tried to lie. "Uh, it was…" I stopped, knowing I couldn't really lie. "Yes, it was," I mumbled.

"What about?"

"Um, I don't remember."

"Hm," Green said. "You sure?"

I thought for a long while. "No. I think it was like slowly being ripped apart."

Green winced. "Ouch."

I suddenly sat up. "I don't remember what happened last night. What did we do?"

"Well, Vio got engaged in a fight with a monster - "

"Oh, I remember that."

"Oh. Well, after we cleared the ocean and landed, you fell asleep and we decided to camp out here before moving any further."

"Oops. Sorry," I apologized, blushing.

"Nah, it was way past midnight, anyways."

"Can't you guys be any quieter while talking?" Blue asked grumpily. He stretched and raised his head. "We're getting closer to the hag," he announced.

"That's strange. The witch hasn't moved a single inch from before," Vio said, looking concerned. "She's stopped trying to run away from us."

"Well, I'm perfectly fine with that," Blue said. "If she stays right where she is."

"Nonetheless, she's not very far," Vio stated. "We should be able to catch up to her at least today."

"What do we do when we find her?" I asked.

"Dangle her from 50,000 feet in the air and demand we get our bodies back or she becomes a grease spot on the ground," Blue suggested.

"That was actually close to what I had in mind," Green said.

With renewed energy of being close to getting our old bodies back, we took off in the direction of the witch.

Blue's POV

Apparently, according to Vio and our senses, the witch was hiding in an active volcano. Way to go. Perfect place for a hideout. Only gets better and better. We stared down into the mouth of the volcano, where red-hot lava bubbled, frothing and creating billowing, thick gases and steam that rose up into the air.

"Now what?" Red asked.

Vio paced around the perimeter of the crater, searching for some way in. Finally, he found what he was looking for. "There," he said triumphantly, pointing to some kind of a carved set of stairs made out of hardened magma slabs leading from the mouth of the crater to deep inside the mountain.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Red murmured.

"Come on, Red, you baby," I teased. "Dare you to take a swan dive to the lava."

"Uh, no way!"

"Blue, since I know you'd want to go first, do you want to go first?" Vio asked.

"Sure." I tentatively place one foot on the top of the rock stairs. The rock seemed to be stable, so I gingerly put my other foot on the rock, testing my weight on it. It held, so I motioned to the others to follow. "Try not to walk too close to the edge," I heard Vio advising us. "Keep to the wall." We began the descent down the stairs, with the others trailing close behind, while to our left the hole opened up into a mass boiling pit of lava. The heat was immense, and the air around us was difficult to breathe and move in, pressing in on us and making movement sluggish. I briefly considered jumping on the stairs to scare Red, who was practically quivering behind me, but thought better of it. We followed the stairs down until it led onto a rocky cliff suspended over a lake of liquid inferno, spewing splashes of lava. There, with her back turned to us, chanting, was the old hag.

Finally. I growled, a sound deep in my throat, and lunged for her, without waiting for Vio to form some kind of attack plan. I grabbed her by the throat, wheeling her around to face me. "Give us our bodies back. NOW." I hissed.

The hag cackled. "Ah, so you've found me out, haven't you?"

I heard movement behind me and knew the others were behind me. I gripped the hag harder. "Do it. Or would you like to become part of the festivities below?" I held her out over the open lake of lava below.  
"You wouldn't kill me," she said hoarsely. "Not if I was the only one who could turn you back. After all, a witch can't do much if she's dead." She began to cackle again.

I faltered. I knew she was right. But I had to get her to turn us back into our old selves.

"Now that you've finally gotten here," the hag sneered, "Why don't we test your fighting abilities, hmmm?" Suddenly, I felt something tear my shoulder open, and I whipped around, releasing the hag, to find myself face-to-face with a snarling wolf. I threw the wolf off of me, sending it flying over the cliff and into the pit of lava below. I turned to see that the hag had summoned a whole pack of wolves that were fighting against Vio, Red, and Green. A wolf lunged at me and I dodged sideways, causing it to shoot past me and slam into the far wall. I walked over to it and snapped its neck for good measure, then tossed it to the side. I glanced around and saw Green dealing with two wolves, but a third was approaching him from behind, claws outstretched, fangs bared, and ready to pounce. I intercepted the attacking wolf in midair just as it leaped, knocking it down to the ground with such force that it crumpled and lay there, unmoving.

Green glanced behind at me, having finished off the two wolves that had been attacking him from the front. "Thanks," he said.

"No problem," I answered, as I whipped around and pounced upon another wolf, slashing at its muzzle. The wolf howled in agony as it gripped its torn snout, backing away. I swept my long tail around me, knocking the wolf's feet out from under him and sweeping him straight into Vio, who looked pleased to have a visitor.

As Vio polished him off, I looked around to see that there were no more enemies left. The ground was littered with unconscious and dead wolves. Now that the main threat was over, I glanced around. Where was the hag? There was no sign of the old witch. I looked out over the cliff and saw something dangling from a small rock ledge suspended over the pit of lava below, silhouetted against the smoke that drifted up from the lava.

Oh, no…

I dashed to the edge of the cliff. The witch had hung herself by the neck with a piece of long, thin rope. Her eyes wide open, aimed at a far-off point but not seeing. Her mouth was stretched into a crooked grin.

Suddenly, the deceased body began to speak. Come in two days, or any chance to lose the curse will be lost.

As I watched, the string snapped and the witch's corpse plummeted down to the fiery lake of fire below.

Serves you right, I thought bitterly. All of a sudden, the mountain became to rumble ominously; first a slight rumble, then a vibrating roar. I whipped around to look at Vio, whose eyes said one thing: Run. We all sprinted for the stairs. Just as we reached the bottom, the world blew up.

Vio's POV

Sure, we knew it was an active volcano. But we decided to go in anyways.

Lava…

Extremely hot. Can burn your skin right off.

Fire.

Burning.

I opened my eyes slowly. The world was a blue haze of ripples, bubbles floating up around me towards the surface.

Bubbles?

I finally realized I was underwater.

I gave a yelp of surprise, accidentally swallowing a lungful of water, and kicked up towards the surface. I had already experienced my fair share of being underwater, and I did not want to have to go through it again. My head broke through the surface of the water and I gasped, sucking in a lungful of air. I turned around and saw a rocky shore. I paddled towards it and dragged myself onto shore, flopping onto the rocks, trying to catch my breath. My lungs were filled with water. I must've swallowed a ton of water while passed out, I thought.

Then the pain flared.

All of the scratches and cuts I had received from the wolves ached, slicing through me. And there was something else...

Burning…

The volcano exploded, I realized. And eruptions mean lava. Lava means…

Burns.

I didn't want to look down at myself. But I knew I would have to if I wanted to assess the damage done. Tentatively, I slowly looked down.

Oh, jeez.

My scales had been burnt black in almost all places. Some of the blackened patches of scales had even been singed completely off, leaving burnt, raw skin exposed underneath. My wings had been ripped and torn into shreds. I wanted to curl up into a small ball and hide, but I knew I had to find the others. I glanced around. Was that...Green?

I loped to the limp figure. He was lying in a pool of blood that had stained the rocks underneath with a reddish tinge. "Green," I murmured. I grasped his shoulders with my claws and shook him gently. "Green?"

His eyes fluttered. "Huh…?"  
"Are you okay?"

Green slowly raised himself up. As he flopped over on his side, I saw a huge gash streaking along his side. "What happened?" I asked, touching the slash gently. He winced.

"Oh." He twisted to look at it. "OH. I think it might have been a wolf."

"Hey!"

We both turned. Blue was in the water, dragging Red with him. He hauled Red over to where Green and I were.

"No, I'm okay," Red protested weakly as Blue let go of him.

"You're definitely not okay."  
"What?" Green asked.

"I may have twisted my ankle," Red said.

"Can dragons twist their ankles?" Green wondered aloud. Then he quickly said, "Don't answer that, Vio," He said pointedly, aiming his gaze towards me, knowing that I had been about to launch into a lecture.

Blue sighed. "Well, I guess that's that, anyways."

"What?" Red asked.

"The old hag's dead. Who's gonna turn us back?"

We grew silent as we suddenly realized that, with the witch having committed suicide, she couldn't turn us back into our old selves. End of line: We were stuck as dragons. Forever.

Blue cursed. "I wasn't expecting to live my life like this."

"No, stop!" Red cried. "There has to be a way."

"Red," Green said tiredly. "There's no way."

Red didn't answer, his jaw set. "Think. Just think."

I knew how desperate Red was to find some way out of this situation, but it already seemed hopeless.

Green suddenly started. "Hold on. What if…?"

"What?" Blue snapped.

Green looked at all of us. And then, as if by magic…

"Zelda," We all said automatically.

"Exactly," Green said. "We can go to the castle and ask for her help, if she can help us."

"But we're dragons," Blue countered. "They're not gonna like it when four dragons suddenly swoop down from the sky. They'll probably shoot first, then ask questions later."

"Yeah." Green grinned. "Which is why we're going to sneak in, break, and enter."

Green's POV

"I don't think this is a good idea," Red murmured.

"Of course it's not. Last time we were nearly blown up," Blue said. "You said the same thing last time, and yet, here you are, following our plan again."

We were hidden in the outskirts of the forest right next to Hyrule Castle. Guards were patrolling all over the perimeter of the castle, which made it even harder to not be spotted.

"So, what's the plan?" Red asked.

"Okay, so that's the window to Zelda's chambers," I said, pointing to a huge window at the back of the castle that dwarfed the other ones. "If we're lucky, she might be there. She's either in her room or the Throne room. We can't get to the Throne room, 'cause then we'd have to get through all of the guards inside the castle."

"How do we get to the window without them knowing we're here?" Blue waved to the guards. "I think I would notice if a great big dragon was flapping around my castle."

"You don't have a castle." Red pointed out helpfully.

"It's a form of figurative speech." Blue turned to me and waited for my answer.

"We do it the old fashioned way: a diversion."

"Make it be Red," Blue said automatically.

"Hey!" Red whimpered in protest.

"Well, if you'd like to volunteer, then we'd be perfectly fine with that," I said.

"Fine. Maybe. What do I have to do?" Red asked.

"Maybe show up, blast fire, roar a bit, get their attention. Then lead them away from the castle and lose them somewhere out in these woods. While they're trying to find their way back, come back to the castle."

"Sure," Red shrugged.

I turned to the others. "Would it be better if we all went to go talk to Zelda, or if one person went?"

"I think you should," Vio said. "Too many dragons at a time will probably look like a horde of monsters to her."

I nodded. "Okay. Let's get this thing going."

Exactly a minute after, Red began the diversion, shooting out of the forest and over the castle. The guards yelled and charged after him, throwing spears and shooting arrows. The projectiles that managed to hit Red merely bounced off of his scaly armor. Red swooped around the castle for a bit, roaring and shooting flames at the air, then turned and flew away into the forest. The guards, not wanting to let the beast get away and looking for a little excitement after an uneventful day, charged after him. Blue nudged me. I looked at him.

"Go," he said, and I nodded and launched off, gliding up behind the castle and to the window. Please be there please be there please be there…

For a moment I almost lost hope. There was no sight of Zelda anywhere in the room, and I was petrified that we had taken a chance and lost. I reached one claw up and tapped against the window. T-Tap, tap-tap, tap. It was our secret combination, something we had thought of together when we were younger. Someone moved into my line of vision inside the castle curiously.

Zelda. She looked more curious than scared that there was a dragon right outside of her window. She ran up to the window. "Link…?" I heard her say, her voice muffled by the pane of glass between us. I nodded.

Zelda's POV

I gasped. I looked around wildly, then back at Link. "Move back!" I shouted. Link complied; he backtracked in the air a few feet away. I grabbed a wooden, ornate chair sitting near me and stepped away from the window. I took a deep breath, then hurled the chair at the window. The chair broke clean through, shattering the fragile glass. Glass fragments exploded out of the window frame, falling to the ground in a glittering shower that reflected in the sun.

Link moved warily to the shattered window. I grasped the sides of his snout between my hands. "How did this happen?" I asked, perplexed.

"The witch that was terrorizing Kakariko Village," he responded. "The four of us went after her, and she cursed us."

"How did you get rid of the guards?"

"No time," he said. "I can hear them coming back." He lowered his head. "Will you come with me? We need to talk."

I jumped on his back, and Link pulled away from the window and flew towards the forest.

Red's POV

A few miles into the forest, I gave them the slip-up. I knew they were getting tired, so I decided to lose them there. I hid in a well-concealed cave and waited until they gave up and went back to the castle. Then I slid back out and flew back to where the others were. Green was already back, with Princess Zelda. They all looked up as I spread out my wings, slowing my descent into the clearing they were standing in.

"So, you say that the witch hung herself?" Zelda asked.

"Yeah," Blue concluded. "All to make things a LOT better."

Zelda seemed to be lost in thought. Finally, she asked, "Well, why would she do that? Would a person really sacrifice their own lives just so that a curse placed on someone wouldn't be able to be undone?"

"Apparently," Blue said.

"Hold on," I stopped him, turning to Zelda. "So what you're saying is…"

Vio snapped his claws, making a sharp clacking sound. "That wasn't the witch. A decoy, really."

"At the volcano, the decoy said, 'Come in two days, or any chance to lose the curse will be lost'," Blue recollected. "I hadn't thought much of that before, but it may mean 'Find my real self in two days, or you're forever screwed as dragons'."

I blinked. "So...It wasn't really the witch? Is that possible?"

"Definitely, if she was an extremely talented magic user. It would have been significantly easy to create a double-clone. Is there any lead you might have on finding the real witch?"

"Ohhhhh. The trail. It split into two at the other village!" I realized.

"And Blue chose the WRONG one," Green said, half-jokingly, glaring pointedly at Blue.

"Hey, it was a fifty-fifty chance!" Blue protested.

Vio rolled his eyes, "This experience just proves that using the traditional 'eenie meenie miny moe' is very unreliable."

"Well, at least there's some hope that the real witch isn't dead."

"So let's go find her, then!"

"Okay, thanks!" I said to Zelda. We spread our wings, about to launch off, when Zelda suddenly shouted, "Hold on!" We stopped and looked at her. She rummaged around in her pockets and drew out a small bottle. "Use this for your scales. It's called silver sulfadiazine. It's an ointment for burns. I'm not sure if it will work on dragons, but it's worth a shot." She held it up to Vio, who lifted a talon and grasped the small canister in between two of his claws. He murmured a thanks, and we lifted off. I looked down as we soared up to see that Zelda was watching us. I thought I heard her say, Good luck, before we flew off into the unknown.

* * *

**Dargon: Blue just gets more sarcastic with each millisecond.**

**Nike: We found the review needing thing a good idea, so...two more reviews for the next chappie!**

**Dargon: Review. Repeat. THANKS!**

**Nike: Please review with comments on our writing. Do you like the new cover? Dargon drew it!**


	3. Choice

**Disclaimer: Wow, Nike's done so many disclaimers, that she can't think of a creative one anymore. So, we'll just stick to a baseline one. We don't own LoZ.**

**Dargon: And Dargon's just too lazy to come up with one herself. LOL… or should I say… LOZ! Hahahahahahahahahaterrible joke...**

* * *

Vio's POV

"The village where the trail split should be due exactly west. If we don't get sidetracked," I told the others as we flew on, staying close to the ground.

"Whew, I'd thought we'd be dragons for the rest of eternity," Green said.

"Well, we might be," I pointed out. "There may be a chance that it was the real hag who hanged herself. If the other trail leads nowhere, then…"  
I didn't bother to finish the sentence. We all knew.

We pushed on until the sun began to sink below the horizon, marking the arrival of nighttime. Landing on the side of a snow-covered mountain, we prepared to rest for the night, seeking shelter underneath a rocky overhang.

"Let's put some of this on," I said, pulling the bottle of silver sulfadiazine out. The others crowded around me to dab some of the ointment on. We slathered the ointment onto our raw scales. Almost as soon as we applied it on, the skin and scales began to heal.

"Wow, that's fast-reacting," Green murmured as he curled up to sleep. I offered to be on first watch; I knew I wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon. As the others drifted off to sleep in the cave, I sat just under the edge of the overhang, watching the terrain below us and leaning against the side of the cave. The stars glinted brightly against the black sky.

As the hours passed, I caught myself with my eyes closed multiple times. I couldn't fall asleep; I had to keep a steady watch just in case an unwanted visitor came. I tried to think of ways to occupy myself while on watch - just to keep myself from closing my eyes - but scratching figures into the rocky ground just wasn't enough. The forty-seventh time I closed my eyes, something yanked me out of the cave. My eyes shot open as we tumbled down the snowy slope of the mountain. As the slope finally leveled out into smooth ground, stopping our descent, I found myself on top of my attacker. I swung a clawed fist at it, only to find my attack being blocked as the figure caught it just before it reached him. I wrenched my talon free from its grasp and sprang away from it, snarling. As my sight quickly adjusted to the darkness, I could faintly see who the figure was.

"Shadow?!" I hissed.

He was in his human form, eyeing me warily as he got up, hands raised. "Whoa, jeez, calm down. You seem much more aggressive as a dragon. Or is it dragon instincts?"

"What're you doing here?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe just watching you guys as you travel your little quest."

"Stalker," I muttered. "Why show yourself now?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Well, you could've done it without yanking me down the side of a mountain." I glanced up to see that we had fallen a long way from the cave. "What do you want?"

"What do you think I want? You're smart enough, Vio, c'mon, figure it out."

I paused. "Well, last time you typically 'convinced' me to join your side of evil. So, I'm guessing you want me to do something for you?"

"Smart as always. But this time, I don't want you to do something, I want you to know something. Your father," he said simply, "is being held hostage."

I stared at him. Finally, I growled, "This is a ruse, isn't it?"

He shrugged casually, drawing out a wickedly long knife, and began sharpening it with his clawed fingernails. "Nope. Demons attacked Hyrule Castle and stormed it. Thing is, they didn't want Zelda; they wanted your father. Revenge for helping you defeat Vaati last time, I think."

"Why not attack us?! We're the ones who brought down Vaati!"

"Too dangerous, considering your fighting skills. Not to mention the fact that you were able to defeat Vaati. We're talking about lesser demons here."

"How do you know this? Are you some sort of double-crossing spy? First you act as the bad guy while we were trying to bring down Vaati. Now you leak information to me from demons?"

Shadow sighed, and began testing the sharpness of his knife. "They think I'm on their side. I'm not, though, and you have to trust me on this. They kidnapped your father, and they're planning to kill him exactly a day later. They're on a tight schedule," he added, seeing my incredulous look.

"Gee, I never knew demons had schedules."

"But they're not expecting you to know. You have to come back. Your father was taken to Death Mountain. You have to save him first."

"Hold on. But the witch who'd taken our human selves said that she'd wait for two days before we couldn't get ourselves back anymore. And now that it's been a day later, now that it's nearly dawn, that means we have one day to get our bodies back. But we also have one day to save Father, then," I realized. Man, we were in deep conflict.

"Well, you have to choose, then. Yourselves or your father?"

I didn't respond.

"What, cat got your tongue? Or, in this case, should I say dragon?"

I unexpectedly slashed at him. He disintegrated into the air, then reappeared on top of a snow-capped tree. "You'd better choose. Or who knows what might happen," he said, and disappeared just as dawn broke and the sun's rays washed over the ground.

I slammed my tail into the snow in frustration. Another life-threatening decision. Great. I sighed and began trudging back uphill to the cave. I had to warn the others.

Blue's POV

Ah, what a wonderful day. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and Vio's come to ruin the scenery.

"We're in serious trouble," he announced as he swept into the cave, shaking snow off of himself.

"Aren't we always?" I asked.

Vio shrugged. He trotted over to wake up the others, then explained why he had been several feet away from the cave, and what Shadow had told him.

"Stalker," I muttered.

"Exactly what I said," Vio said.

"What do we do? I mean, we should definitely go after Father, right?" Red said. "But then…" he faltered. "So we won't be able to get our normal selves back."

"Yeah," Green said.

"Well, being a dragon isn't that bad," Red said half-heartedly.

We all stayed silent for a while.

Finally, I broke the silence. "Where's Death Mountain? Is it close to us?"

"Yeah," Vio replied. "We should be able to save Father if we go right now."

"Sure." I sighed. Anything to take my mind off of the fact we were forever stuck this way.

Shadow's POV

I knew something was wrong the moment the demons decided to pay me a little visit. I finished sharpening my fingernails to a point moments before they came in. Just as I put the knife down, two Lizalfos marched in. They both stopped a few feet away from where I was leaning against the stone wall.

"Hello, Shadow," One of them spoke in a hissing grunt.

I pretended to be nonchalant. "What do you want? I'm busy here."  
"As you know, we're planning on sacrificing their father today," the other one rasped.

I gripped the knife in my hand slightly tighter. "So?"

"Well, we also wanted to do this." The Lizalfos on the right suddenly swung a heavily armored arm at me. Having anticipated the attack, I ducked underneath it and stabbed my knife into the monster's unprotected underbelly. Blood spurted out, and the Lizalfos gave a dull hiss of pain, collapsing. I turned to deal with the other monster, but before I could quite get there a small prick nicked me in the back of my neck, and the world began to dim.

Just before I lost consciousness, I heard the Lizalfos bend down and hiss in my ear:

We know you're the traitor among us.

Vio's POV

We pushed as fast as our wings would go. The large structure of Death Mountain loomed above us, rising higher and higher as we came closer.

"Not another volcano," I heard Green mutter to himself.

We landed at the base of the mountain. I cast a quick glance around. A steel door was inlaid into the side of the mountain, surrounded by a semi-circle of rocks. I walked into the middle of the circle of rocks, inspecting them. The others joined me.

"There should be some way to get in…" I backed up, trying to look at the rocks from all angles for some clue that would tell us how to open the door. Red sighed and leaned against the area of wall next to the door, exhausted from flying so fast. Suddenly, there was a loud click, and the door slid open.

"Oops…?" Red said.

"A motion-sensor for demons. I should've known," I muttered.

"But we're not demons," Green said.

"I think being a dragon is close enough." We proceeded warily into the mountain through the door into a dimly-lit long, narrow hallway carved out from the rock.

"Creepy," Red observed.

A soft but audible hiss echoed through the walls.

"Even more creepy." Red shivered. We walked through the tunnel to another door at the end. Blue, who was first and therefore closest to the door, glanced back at us. We nodded, and he quietly eased the door open. The door opened up into a large chamber. The moment everyone was inside, the door slammed shut behind us. I spun towards it, seeing that three Lizalfos were standing a little ways behind us, one of which that had closed the door. Glancing around, I spotted three more Lizalfos blocking our way to the next door, which was at the other side of the chamber. We were surrounded.

A Lizalfos stepped out of the shadows. "Well, well. What do we have here?" The Lizalfos was obviously the leader of the Lizalfos. It was wearing golden armor, with a winged badge on its chestplate.

"A bunch of Lizalfos? Is that all you've got?" Blue taunted. "I thought this was a demon stronghold, not lizard heaven."

The leader snarled. "Your arrogance is as irritating as ever. We knew you were coming, so we decided to greet you."

"Not in the welcome manner," Red muttered.

"How did they know we were coming?" Green hissed quietly, so the monsters couldn't hear. "Shadow said they had no idea he told us about Father."

I started. How did they know? Unless Shadow had lied, told us about Father to gain our trust, then told the demons we were coming.

"As we can't let you interfere with our plans, I'm afraid your 'rescue mission' has to be ended here," the leader said. The Lizalfos surrounding us suddenly growled and lunged for us without warning.

I whipped around and slashed upwards, bringing a ferocious uppercut onto two Lizalfos, flinging them into the wall, where they crumpled. I turned and saw that the others had also polished off the rest of their attackers. The leader, now wide-eyed in fear and surprise at how fast we had finished off his henchmen, backed away from us. The door behind us exploded open as dozens of Lizalfos poured into the chamber. Too many. I shot a quick glance at the others, and we pushed past the golden-clad leader and to the door leading onwards on the opposite side of the chamber. Green pushed against the door, but it wouldn't budge. Locked.

"Oh, for demon's sake," Blue hissed, pushing past Green. He slammed his shoulder against the door, and the door groaned.

I looked behind us to see that the horde of Lizalfos was charging towards us, quickly closing the gap in between.

"Hurry!" Red shouted. Blue slammed the door again, causing the door to give way partially.

The horde was only yards away. Forty yards… Thirty… Twenty…

Blue backed up a bit.

Ten… Five…

Blue charged the door and rammed into it, blasting the door open. We tumbled through, Red slamming the door shut behind us as the snarling mob of Lizalfos crashed against the door.

I cast a quick glance around us at our surroundings. We were in a small room. At the end were two figures. I inched closer to see that Father and Shadow were both propped up against the wall, unconscious. Shadow was chained to the wall by a set of manacles that bound his hands together. Green started, about to rush to Father's side, when I stopped him. "Not now. He's not going to take too kindly to waking up to the sight of dragons looking at him, after the ordeal he's went through. And anyways, he still has his sword with him." Green stopped and nodded tightly. I turned and approached the limp form of Shadow. "Shadow…?"  
His eyes fluttered. "Vio…?" Still half-groggy, he shook his head as if trying to clear it. Dark tendrils of energy crackled along the manacles, but then they fizzled out. "Dang thing won't let me use dark energy." He held his bound hands out to me. I fired a quick fireball at the manacles, which instantly melted them into an oozing, black substance. Shadow rubbed his now-free wrists. "Thanks."

"How are you...?" Red started to ask.

Shadow shook his head. "They figured out I was spreading information to you. They were intending to murder me, along with your father."

"So you weren't lying about you helping us?" I asked.

"No. Why would I? You made the right choice, coming here first, or your father and I wouldn't been killed."

"Coming here first?"

He grinned. "I managed to nab this from one of the Lizalfos." He held up a glittering pendant that glinted, even in the dim room. "It pauses time, but only once. Normally, you wouldn't have had time to save us and save your human selves. But with this, you'll be able to get to the witch without wasting any time, which means you have a chance to get your human selves back, even after rescuing us. It will be useless against the witch's magic, though. I'm not sure why a Lizalfos would be carrying this," Shadow added as an afterthought. He held the pendant out to Green, who slipped it over his own head. "I take it we have visitors?" he asked, as the Lizalfos on the other side of the door angrily pounded on it.

"Not very pleasant ones," Red answered.

"How're we going to get Father out of here?" Green said, worriedly, as he glanced back at the door, which seemed ready to collapse under the force of the monsters.

"I can get him out of here with dark magic. Take him back to the castle," Shadow said. Then he quickly added, "If you trust me enough to."

"We all do," I said. The others nodded vigorously in agreement.

Shadow narrowed his eyes and concentrated hard. Suddenly, Father's limp body dissolved into tendrils of energy. The tendrils shot upward into the ceiling, where a glowing portal had appeared. As soon as the tendrils had disappeared into the void, the portal vanished. Shadow broke concentration, relaxing.

"Thanks," I murmured. The door was suddenly ripped off of its hinges and tossed aside as the leader of the Lizalfos came in, his face set in red fury and the golden helmet on his head lopsided. The other monsters stayed just outside, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

"Give him up now, or we kill you all," the leader snarled, jabbing a claw at Shadow.

"Shut up, Lizard Breath," I said.

"When they charge, break a path into the chamber," Shadow murmured quietly to all of us, quiet enough so that we were the only ones who could hear him. "Much more bigger fighting space in the chamber than in here."

The leader glared daggers at us. "Fine. Then so be your deaths." He turned to his army and roared, "ATTACK!" The crowd of monsters surged forward. We leaped forward, straight into the horde, pushing our way through to the chamber. The Lizalfos, confused by our sudden move, barely had time to recollect themselves before we had gotten past them all and were now facing the horde. The group, now furious, whipped around and stampeded to us once again.

This time, we were ready for them.

I leapt forward, crashing into one of the Lizalfos at the front of the monster horde. We went down, with me tearing at his chest. He barely had time to realize his throat was getting ripped out before he went limp. I tossed him aside and whipped around in a full circle, blasting the beasts around me with fire and frying them from the inside out. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Shadow pressing against three Lizalfos at the same time, nimbly dodging their attempts to slash him and jumping in to hack at their flesh with his knives. Two of them went down a split second later. The third Lizalfos suddenly kicked upward at Shadow, knocking the knives out of his hand. Shadow instantly morphed into a huge, snarling gray wolf and took the third monster out with an almost lazy, effortless swipe.

Green's POV

We fought against the horde until they all lay in dazed heaps on the ground and the leader was the only one that was left. We stalked towards him menacingly, surrounding him in a circle.

The leader gave a small, strangled squeak, his eyes practically as wide as moons. "D-D-D.." he tried to speak, but his throat wouldn't let him go any further. I grabbed him by the neck, yanking him towards me so that he was right in front of my face.  
"Bet you wish you hadn't joined the evil side, huh?" I growled.

The pathetic lizard gasped for air, his claws scrabbling weakly at my talons. I gave a small twist and the lizard went limp. I threw his body to the side.

"Brutal," Red commented.

"But effective," Blue added.

"I guess you guys should get going. It's already late evening," Shadow said. He dissolved from his wolf form back into his human self.

I stared at him. "You're not coming with us?"

He shook his head. "I have to go, before any other demons know I'm a traitor to them. I'm lucky only the Lizalfos knew. And I know you guys can do it, anyways," he added. He spread his hands, and a glowing portal appeared, shimmering in the air in front of us. "Good luck," he said, and stepped through the portal. He and the portal dissolved into thin air.

* * *

**Dargon: Yaaaaaay! Another chappie done! Wanna know what happens next?! THEN REVIEW! :D**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated! Thanks to all of you who reviewed! And don't stop now~! Keep going! For the Finale, let's say THREE reviews for the last chappie! DUN-DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNN!**

**Thanks to everyone who stuck with the four Links and their adventure :D**

**Nike: Yeah, thanks. I can't believe we haven't done this yet…(::) Cookie! To boost our self morale, won't you take the time to review? Please? :)**

**Dargon: You seem un-hyper. Are you feeling okay, Nike? Lol**


End file.
